, 1887-12-28
A NOVEL CALLING.
Two Young Men Announce Them
selves As ExterminatOrs.
Neither Cruel Strangers Nor Red
Handed Desperadoes.
DISCOVERIES of a Certain Remedy
to Kill Prairie Pests.

iuIeI OCeau register last evening. lHE
LEADER reporter assigned to note the ar
rival and departure of visitors to this sec
ton, supposed that the men were either
cattle barons or bonanza kings, and lost
no time in securing an interview with Mr..
Parker, the younger of the pair.
Like the majority of westerners and
the entirety of young men, the new arr
val talked without reserve. What branch
of business did you suppose [ was en-
gagged mp he asked the modest young
news gatherer. The reporter frankly con
fded his. opinion as set forth above, being
doubly sure after conversing with the
voyager.
1.-The very nature of your occupation"
smilingly replied Parker, should make
you exceedingly adept at solving such
riddles, but you are mistaken for once,
and with all your worldly experience I'd
be willing to lay heavy odds that you
can't state i~ntelligently how my partner
and myself manage to amass the frisky
and elusive coin, after l denominate our
occupation in plain English. We are
dubbed DETERMINATIONS now what does
it meanP"
After v%enturing a number of guesses
which suggested themselves, the reporter
was forced to acknowledge that he would
be compelled to consult authorities before
becoming able to submit the specific def
milton which would answer in this partic
ular case. He was beginning to think
that he was not so well versed in Western
nomenclature as his dialect would indicate
when e~ndeavoring to impress a tenderfoot
with the idea that he had soiourned in
this portion Of the frontier since the &C.
currence Of the matinee which caused Mr..
Mullaly's name to be eliminated from the
city directory in 1868.
Don't let your inability to define the
term discomit you, young fellow" said
Mr.. Parker in reassuring tones. In the
first place no dictionary or encyclopaedia
ever published would construe the word
as it is understood in Nevada, and l don't
believe that it has ever been used outside
that state, though recognized as pure
English there and long since incorporated
into the vocabulary of every well informed
resident of that commonwealth. 1t was
coined there some two years ago under
rather peculiar circumstances, the relation
of which will explain both the word and
the nature of my calling.
Young and myself were market gar
deners near Carson City and would have
made a fortune in natures green goods
but for the myriads of prairie dogs, SPUR
rels, chipmonks and rabbits which bred
with alarming prolificncss and overrun
our patches of vegetables like stampeded
buffalo. In this instance the visit of
clouds of g~rasshoppers would have been a
blessing. The winged d~estroyers simply
cause the vegetables to disappear, but the
plague which descended upon our ranch
inflicted almost irreparable damage by
burrowing in the fields, domiciling on the
field of carnage until the last vestige of
fora was non est.
The exingencies of the situation made
action imperative. Our entire capital was
invested in the business and with ruin
staring us In the face we lay awake nights
devising methods whereby our devasta-
tors might be destroyed or put to fight.
One October morning Mr.. Young
preached a project which | thought bor-
dered on the wild cat order, but which
we lost no time in putting into execution.
1t was nothing more nor less than to fill
each burrow with water and exterminate
the occupants. We deluged every hole
within two miles of the place and had the
ing the product at advanced figures the
following summer. The animal matter
beneath the surface acted as d fertilizer,
enriching the ground and enhancing its
agricultural worth.
Other farmers tried the same process,
but were not so successful on account of
the lack of facilities for handling water.
| had manufactured and patented a sy-
phon for drawing water from beneath the
ice, and hat invention is our principal
stock in trade now.
I'VE carried the work of determination
into Montana and Utah the following
winter, and Melted a neat sum for our sea-
sons work.
1--WE shall operate in Wyoming this
year, and anticipate a remarkably good
business in the event of the repeating of
the bounty law, and expect to do quite
well at any rate.
You can readily see now why the
clever Nevada people dubbed us extermin-
ators."
Locating Claims.
j. B. Adams, w. f. Hamilton and NJ.